Red Scorpion founding member Konaam Shirzad was gunned down in Kamloops on Sept. 21. Ibrahim Amjad Ibrahim was with him at the time.PNG

A Coquitlam gang associate whose body was found in a Richmond park this week was a frequent visitor to Kamloops and was with a founding member of the Red Scorpions when he was gunned down last month in that Interior city, police say.

Ibrahim Amjad Ibrahim, 30, was found dead from gunshot wounds in Richmond’s Garden City Park on Tuesday morning. He was known to police and was one of five men who were the subject of a warning from Surrey RCMP this summer.

Police made Ibrahim’s name and face public because he was involved in the Lower Mainland gang conflict, had been the target of gunfire in Surrey, and had refused to cooperate with police. The public was warned against associating with him.

Despite that warning, Kamloops RCMP have confirmed, Ibrahim was in the company of Konaam Shirzad when Shirzad was shot dead on the evening of Sept. 21. A second man was injured and taken to Royal Inland Hospital.

Ibrahim was not injured in the shooting and, true to form, he did not cooperate with police, which hindered their investigation.

“That is all part of the culture of the criminal underworld,” said Kamloops RCMP Staff-Sgt. Simon Pillay. “At every shooting scene, at every homicide, we’re always appealing to those who … survive to do the right thing and cooperate with the police and we can put into place our own safety measures. But obviously that didn’t work in this case.”

Ibrahim Amjed Ibrahim.PNG

Pillay said Ibrahim was well-known to police in Kamloops and had been seen in Shirzad’s company many times.

“The two together, what they were doing that particular day, what they were engaged in, is still under investigation,” said Pillay. “For them to work collaboratively in the general context of organized crime is something that we have seen in the past.”

When asked if police believe there is a connection between the murders of Shirzad and Ibrahim, Pillay said it is too early to know, but Kamloops investigators are in contact with the Richmond RCMP and Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

Pillay said Kamloops RCMP were aware of the Surrey detachment’s public warning regarding Ibrahim.

“That was quite a high-profile manoeuvre, trying, ultimately, to ensure the public’s safety because essentially what the situation is with some of these gangsters is they are being targeted so regularly that they become a hazard to anybody who’s associated with them,” Pillay said.

Staff-Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, spokesman for the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, B.C.’s anti-gang police agency, said Ibrahim’s death was not unexpected.

“It comes as no surprise to us — it certainly comes as no surprise to me,” Houghton said. “His name is yet another name that we’re going to add to the list of individuals who have been involved in this lifestyle for a number of years who we’ve warned, who we’ve warned the public about, yet here he is as another statistic.

“It has happened many, many times before, and it will happen again.”

Surrey RCMP confirmed that the four other men whose names and photos were released at the same time as Ibrahim’s — Karman Grewal of Vancouver, Manbir Grewal of Coquitlam, and Indervir Johal and Harmeet Sanghera of Surrey — continue to be uncooperative and are still considered public safety risks.

On Thursday, two days after Ibrahim’s body was discovered, the B.C. government committed to continue funding of $500,000 per year for the Surrey Wraparound (Wrap) Program, which is aimed at preventing youths from joining gangs by forming positive relationships between students and their schools, communities and homes.

Premier John Horgan, who made the announcement, was following through on a promise made during the provincial election campaign earlier this year.

The program is a partnership between the Surrey School District, City of Surrey and Surrey RCMP and has been around since 2009. There are approximately 100 students taking part in the program, which to date has received 600 referrals and helped 300 students and their families.

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